
E 340 
.B98 S7 
Copy 1 



,s^v:i::Mr:K-:':ms:m^^^!SS^wj 



AN 



iDDRESS 



DELIVEP.F.O 



111 l|e SliTtfr Strict £ljiirc|, |lciu Work, 



D E C E M B Et R a , 18 5 8, 



AT T"E FTNHIAL OF 1HE 






Hoy. BENJAMIN bilANKLIN Birr.F|{ 



l.AIK ATTOIJNEV C 



li 






WILLIAM B. L^l'KAGUE, I). I:., 

MiNisTKi; ' r .; I. second presbyt- ■ nobeoatiok in al' 




NEW Y^ ' ■ 
I>. APPLETON & CO., .!4G .. ;;48 BROADWAY. 



lS5:t. 



^^^^s^:^^mzs.^^^i^mmt:^zwir: zzMM's^^^m^^mm^^^ 



<IL '^ ■"■ 



AN 



ADDRESS 



DELIVERED 

|it t|i: Utrar Street C|urrl|, Irlu |ork. 

i:>EC,EMBEIl3,1858, 

AT THE FUNEKAL OF THE 

mm. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BUTLER, 

LATE ATTOKNEY GENERAL (iF THE UNITED STATES. 

WILLIAM B. SPRAGUE, D. D., 

MINISTER OK THE SECOND rRESBYTERI.\N CONGREGATION IN ALRANY. 



NEW YORK: 
D. APPLETON & CO., 346 & 348 BROADWAY. 

1859. 



^.3ik3 



.37 



FUNERAL ADDRESS. 



There is that in death, independently of charac- 
ter or circumstances, that stamps it with awful so- 
lemnity. You hear of its having found a new victim, 
and it impresses you as little as the changing of the 
wind ; but when a^ou come to resolve it into its dis- 
tiuctive elements, and see how comprehensive and yet 
how mysterious it is ; when you think of its ante- 
cedents, its attendants, its consequences ; when you 
take into view the premonitory pangs, the rending 
of the man in twain, the separation from earthly 
scenes, the disruption of tender ties, the closing of 
the period of trial, and the beginning of an illimit- 
able retribution — when you take these things into 
the account, I say, and break away from the illu- 
sions of sense and of habit, as you contemplate them, 
you cannot but feel that this most common of all 
events is also the most momentous. Be it so that 
the world is making one of its very humblest con- 
tributions to the land of silence ; that the death that 



has occurred lias set no liuman heart to throbbing, 
and has awakened no interest except that the re- 
mains shoiikl be Imried out of sight — still, even 
there, death has done his perfect work, and the only 
reason why you view it with indifference is that yon 
do not think of it at all. 

But while death, considered in the most general 
view, is a momentous event, — an event with which 
none but the fool or the madman can trifle, — its 
aspect is essentially modified by the character of its 
subject ; and where the character has been moulded 
by the Divine influence of Christianity, the work 
that death accomplishes is at best but a mock 
triumj)h. What he does seems indeed terrible 
enough ; but you have only to take one step beyond 
the visible to find that, under the guise of a mon- 
ster, he was performing the ofiS.ce of a good angel. 
Nothing dreadful appears on this side the vail, but 
has a glorious offset on the other. The dying 
Christian is taking leave of friends "^\dio are dear to 
his heart ; but he is ofoino: into the embraces of 
other friends who have preceded him in the uj^ward 
course, and is about to join a glorified community, 
to all of whom, through Christ, he Avill sustain a 
most endearino- relation. He is closins: his connec- 
tion with all earthly oljjects and interests, but he is 
forming a connection with a new and glorious world, 
where there will be full scope for his exalted and 



ever brightening faculties. He finds the death- 
struggle hard, and those who look on, turn away 
and^veep; but wait a little, and that struggle is 
over, and with it all suftering, and then comes the 
exceeding and eternal weight of glory. The l)ody 
is about^'to be dressed for the grave, and there it 
will moulder, and ultimately turn to common dust ; 
but ere long an omnipotent word shall reconstruct 
it into a glorified body, and bring it up from its 
loAvly resting-place, and animate it with the spirit 
which death had dislodged, and thus the entire man 
shall start forth on a fresh career of immortality. 
Make the Christian's death-bed seem as dark and 
revolting as you can, and we have only to hold up 
the l>lessed Gospel, and let that shine upon it, and 
it becomes illumined as with light from the third 

heavens. 

But while death is essentially modified l)y char- 
acter, the Christian's death is, to some extent, mod- 
ified by circumstances; and one of these circum- 
stances is worldly consideration and rank. To the 
dying Christian himself this indeed is nothing, ex- 
cept "Is his fidelity in the high stations he has oc 
cupied, must come up gratefully before him, as a 
witness to his Christian integrity, and a voucher for 
the genuineness of his hope. In all the essentials 
of death, especially in the great matter of going to 
appear before God, he is conscious of being on a 



6 

level with tlie humblest of the race. But to others 
his death takes on a peculiar type, from the fact 
that it closes a life of public service and honor. 
They have watched, perhaps admired, j^ossibly 
envied, him, as they have seen the laurels accumu- 
late upon his brow, have heard the congratulatory 
welcome by w'hich he has been introduced to one 
lofty station after another, and have marked the 
impress of his high and honorable deeds upon the 
surrounding community, — perhaps upon the country 
at laro-e. He lias seemed to them to be w^alkins^ 
through the world in glory ; and possibly they have 
had no higher aspirations than to be in this respect 
like him. But now that the time of his departure has 
come, they follow him in their imaginations and their 
inquiries at least, to his death-bed, curious to know 
the history of his passage through the dark valley. 
iVnd the ci'and revelation that is made to them 
there is, that there is nothiuo; stable but relioion. 
It is not the great man or the honoral>le man that 
appears now, but it is tlie humble Christian — the 
Christian in communion with the Concpieror of death, 
and becoming entranced with visions of immortality. 
To his view all earthly distinctions have fiided into 
insignificance ; wdiile the one grand distinction of 
being an adopted child of the Lord Almighty, fills his 
eye and satisfies his soul. As he lies there panting 
his life away, he is preaching, oh, how impressively, 



of the littleness of the world, and the majesty of 
religion. With a hand that death is palsying, he 
is holding np a l)a]ance, in the one side of wiiich are 
the honors which the world has poured upon him, 
in the other, the salvation which Christ hath 
wrouo-ht ii him ; and he bids all take note that the 
former are outweighed by the latter, more than an 
atom is outweighed by a world. 

I have made these few remarks, my friends, as 
illustrative of the spirit of the occasion that has con- 
vened us. The event, when viewed in its more gen- 
eral bearings, casts into the shade, in solemnity and 
impressiveness, all the most striking events in the 
history of our departed friend that had preceded it. 
When viewed in connection with the sanctifying 
power of Christianity, it takes on a cheering aspect, 
and bids the mourner not let his heart be troubled. 
When viewed as crowning a life of great worldly 
distinction, it becomes especially monitory to those 
who are sacrificing to the honors of earth the glories 
of heaven. The man who is addressing us from the 
silence of his coffin to-day, was another Joseph of 
Arimathea, " an honorable man and a counsellor, 
who also waited for the kingdom of God." He died 
full of honors, but full of faith and of the Holy 
Ghost. It is not my purpose to enter minutely 
into the details of either his life or character ; but 
I should not feel that I had met the demands either 



8 

of the occasion, or of a long-clierisliecl and affec- 
tionate jDersonal friendsliip, if I were not to indicate 
l)riefly the manner in wliicli Lis life has been spent, 
to point to some of the monuments of his public 
usefulness, and to hint at those fine intellectual, 
moral, and Christian traits with which his his^hest 
distinction was identified. 

BEXJA]\nN Franklin Butler was, on the paternal 
side of Irish, on the maternal of Puritan, extraction. 
He was born in the part of Kinderhook that is now 
Stuyvesant, on the Hudson Eiver, December 14, 
1*79 5. His father, who was an intelligent, enter- 
prising, and influential man, took a deep interest in 
the cause of education, and gave to this son the best 
early advantages within his reach; and the son 
showed his appreciation of them by improving them 
most diligently, and thus developing at once the 
strongest aspirations for knowledge and a remark- 
able facility at acquiring it. Having served as an 
assistant to his father in different occupations, and 
completed a brief course of preparatory study, he 
became a student at Law under the direction and 
j)atronage of Mr. (now Ex-President) Van Buren, 
with whom he was afterwards most intimately asso- 
ciated in his professional and public life, and for 
whom he always cherished an affection scarcely less 
than filial. In 1817 he was admitted to the Bar; 
Mr. Van and Buren, then Attorney General of the 



9 

State, and a resident of Albauj^, received liim as a 
partner in business, and this connection contiinied, 
witli the exception of a few months in 1819, till 
December 1821, when the senior partner was ap- 
pointed to the Senate of the United States. Mr. 
Butlee's first appearance in the higher courts of 
the State is said to have attracted much attention, 
and to have drawn from some distinguished jurists 
the highest testimony to his ability and the most 
confident predictions of his future eminence. In 
February, 1821, he was appointed the District At- 
torney of the city and county of All^any, — an office 
which often brought him in conflict with some of 
the ablest members of the profession, but the duties 
of which he discharged with signal diligence and 
success. In November, 1824, he was ap]3ointed, to- 
gether with Iavo other eminent lawyers, to take 
charge of the revision of the laws of the State of 
New York ; an appointment which, considering his 
youth, nothing but extraordinary intellectual and 
moral qualities could have justified, but which, in 
the marked ability and fidelity with which it was 
discharo;ed, showed the wisdom that dictated it. In 
1827 he v^'as chosen member of the Assembly from 
Albany, with a special view to his explaining and 
vindicatinof the new code which was then oftered 
for the sanction of the Legislature ; and here, as in 
his other public relations, he neither sought nor 



10 

wonld lie liave accepted any dispensation from tlie 
most intense labor. In 1829 he was appointed a 
Regent of tlie University, but he resigned the place 
in 1832. In 1833 he acted as Commissioner on the 
part of the State of New York, to settle a long-agi- 
tated controversy between that State and New 
Jersey ; and the negotiation proved successful. / In 
Novemljer of the same year he accepted the office 
of Attorney General of the United States, under 
General Jackson's administration, and by his urgent 
request ; and to this office he brought not only the 
energies of his vigorous and comprehensive mind, 
but his ever wakeful and discriminating sense of 
moral obligation, and that diligent and patient re- 
search, that untiring assiduity, that never faltered 
at the sight of obstacles which it -was possible to 
overcome. In this high station, he earned for him- 
self, by the manner in which he discharged its du- 
ties, proportionally high honor, and the amount of 
labor which he performed, and well j^erformed, dur- 
ing this period, is said to have been almost incred- 
ible. From Octobei-, 1836 to March, 1837, a period 
of about five months, he consented, by the special 
request of the President, to 2)erform the duties of 
Secretary of War ; and here also he showed him- 
self alike capable and faithfuL ( It had been his 
purpose to retire from the office of Attorney General 
at the close of President Jackson's term ; but he 



11 

was persuaded to retain the place for a single year 
under tlie administration of liis successor. His la- 
bors in tliis department were not finally terminated 
until September, 1838. After tliis, lie was, at two 
different periods, United States District Attorney 
for the Southern District of New York ; and at the 
commencement of Mr. Polk's administration he de- 
clined an earnest request to return to Washington 
in the capacity of Secretary of War. During sev- 
eral of his last years he was w^ithdrawn entirely from 
public office, and was assiduously devoted to his pro- 
fessional duties. So heavy and incessant were tlie 
drafts that were made upon him, that his physical 
constitution, naturallv vio;orous, bes-an at leno'th to 
yield. There is reason to fear that the warnino-s 
which nature often gives of approaching evil from 
the neglect or violation of her laws, were not in ]iis 
case heeded soon enough. Scarcely had he begun 
to give himself to relaxation before he rested from 
all bis earthly laljors. 

It is only a short time since our honored friend 
determined to break away from all professional 
cares, and avail himself of the invigorating influence 
of a voyage across the ocean and a temporary 
sojourn in foreign countries, by means of which 
also lie might gratify his intellectual tastes, and en- 
large the stores of his knowledge. Accordingly, on 
tbe 16th of October, with two of his beloved dauo-h- 



12 

ters for bis compauions, lie eml^arked for Havre in 
the steamer Arago, with every prospect that his 
health would be confirmed, and expecting no doubt 
ere long a happy reunion to the circle of friends 
who parted with him so reluctantly, and who fol- 
lowed him with their blessings and prayers. But, 
little as he suspected it, he was going away only to 
die! 

He reached the destined port in safety, and still 
there w^as nothing to cast a shadow upon his path. 
With ah almost l)oundless but well-directed curi- 
osity, he looked out upon those scenes of antique 
grandeur with which he was surrounded, and was 
gathering rich material for both the imagination 
and the intellect to work upon ; and his family had 
already begun to reap the fruits of his foreign tour 
in the fascinating reports of his daily observation 
which he was sendins^ them. He has arrived in the 
capital of France, and still, for aught that he knows, 
all is well. But scarcely has the splendor of that 
great city begun to open upon him, before he be- 
comes convinced, as if God had written it upon the 
wall, or an angel had whispered it in his ear, that 
he has reached the spot where he must die. Sad 
thoughts aljout the loved and the loving on both 
sides of the ocean nodouljt obtrude themselves ; Init 
living faith is mighty to tranquillize and to elevate : 
it does not indeed make him forget the objects of 



13 

his tenderest affection, Lut it makes liim strong to 
endnre the pang of separation, — strong to commit 
them to God's gracious care. And there that stran- 
ger in a strange land, baptized by the Holy Ghost 
for the emergency, meets his final summons, not 
only with quiet submission but with holy triumph. 
He rests on his Saviour's arm all the way throug-h 
the dark valley. When he has nearly reached the 
connecting point between earth and Heaven, he 
sends back a joyful testimony to his Redeemer's 
all-sustaining power and grace. He has died far 
away from home, and friends, and country, but what 
matters it, so long as lie has died in the faith of 
Jesus, and the Heavenly mansions are just as acces- 
sible from one point of the globe as another. 

In turning my thoughts to Mr. Butlee's char 
acter, I find myself disj^osed rather to dwell upon its 
general beauty, and harmony, and efficiency, than 
to resolve it into its distinctive elements ; rather to 
look at that admirable combination of qualities to 
which are to be referred, under God, the great re- 
sults of his life, than to contemplate the intellectual 
and the moral, and the distinct attributes of each, 
as so many constituent parts of an admirable whole. 
It was the perfect symmetry that pervaded the 
entire man, body, mind and heart, that made him 
an object of such rare atti'action while living, and 



14 

tliat now renders Lis memory so fragrant and 
beautiful. 

As, liowever, the occasion would seem to require 
that I should speak of his character somewhat more 
in detail, I may say that his intellectual endowments 
were originally of a very high order. There was a 
graceful ease and freedom in all his mental opera- 
tions. He perceived clearly; he judged cautiously, 
but correctly ; and his memory was so exact and 
retentive as to be a safe depository for almost every 
thing that it had ever received. Indeed, so minute 
and perfect was his recollection of all the details of 
almost any event which had come within his knowl- 
edge, that in any relation which he might make, 
you felt as sure that you were hearing the exact 
truth as if he ^vere reading it to you from a record 
which he had made when the event occurred. His 
faculties were all subjected to careful and constant 
culture ; and the amount of knowledge which he 
acquired, not only in his own profession but in the 
various departments of learning and j^ractical life, 
at once rendered him at home in any circle, and 
qualified him for almost any field of usefulness. 

In his moral constitution also Mr. Butlee was 
eminently favored ; though in speaking of him in 
this respect it is impossible to ignore the aid Avliich 
he derived from Christianity. He had a simplicity 
and directness of aim that forbade the thought of 



15 

any tiling dark or siunous iu liis views or conduct. 
He bad luucli of that prudence that sets a ^Yatcll at 
tlie door of tlie lips, that they do not needlessly of- 
fend. He had that benevolence that deliixhts in the 
welfare of others, and is willing to make sacrifices 
to promote it. He had that melting compassion 
that not only feels but weeps for another's wo, — 
upon which bleeding and broken hearts act as an 
irresistible attraction. He had that modesty, which 
is rather the ornament than the veil of true 2:reat- 
ness, and yet that self-possession and dignity which 
would have done honor to the Court. He coml dned 
an. almost womanly gentleness with a manly firm- 
ness ; and while he would never needlessly wound 
the feelings or assail the prejudices of any, yet where 
any great question of duty was concerned, and his 
convictions in relation to it were thoroughly estab- 
lished, he had a will of iron. He was forbearing 
and forgiving towards those who injured him ; in 
rendering evil for evil I am confident he never took 
the first lesson. He was a cheerful and thankful 
recipient of the Divine fiivors ; and when trouble 
came, he bowed in reverent submission and blessed 
the hand that sent it. I have seen him rejoicing in 
an exuberance of domestic comforts, and other 
temporal blessings ; l)ut I never saw him when 
the spirit of gratitude towards his Heavenly Bene- 
factor even seemed to wane. I have seen him when 



16 

the deej) waters came over liis soul, but I never saw 
liim when he betrayed by a word or a look the least 
sign of unwillingness that God's will should be done 
concerning him. However some of these qualities 
may exist in a humbler form as a natural growth, 
yet no one could witness their development in him, 
without feeling assured that they rose to the higher 
character of graces of the Spirit. 

You perceive that I have said little of Mr. But- 
ler's high professional distinction or of the success 
that marked his public career. These are themes 
which I would rather treat, if I were to treat them 
at ail, at a greater distance from his coffin. It is 
his character as a Christian^ — an earnest, active, 
consistent, uncompromising Christian, upon which 
it seems most fittino-, as it is to me most delis^htful, 
here to dwell. I may say, without the fear of contra- 
diction, that religion with him was an all-pervading 
principle. You could not persuade yourself that it 
was something ^ul on ; you felt that it was a mighty 
inward power, directing all his purposes and ac- 
tions, and moulding his whole character into a form 
of rare loveliness and beauty. He was not afraid 
to stand forth a witness for Christ in any circum- 
stances ; and although never unduly forward in his 
religious demonstrations, it was as clear as the light 
that he was ready to follow the JMaster whitherso- 
ever He might lead. In his family he was a model 



17 



of conjugal and parental tenderness and fidelity ; 
and the very last time I saw him, ho told me out 
of a full heart, and in a tone of inexpressible thank- 
fulness, that God's covenant faithfulness had been 
manifest towards him by bringing every one of 
his dear children to the Cross. In the Sabbath 
School (for in one school at least I know he was 
not only a teacher but a superintendent) he drew 
the children towards him with cords of love, and 
labored for their best interests with as much sin- 
gleness of mind and heart as if that had been his 
only vocation. At the weekly prayer meetings of 
the church he considered it a privilege to be present 
as often as his manifold eng^ao-ements would allow ; 
and never shall I forget the last meeting of this 
kind which he attended under my own ministry, in 
which with more than a brother's tenderness he 
bade us farewell. He was earnest in his prayers 
and efforts for the advancement of Christ's cause ; 
while yet he was jealous for the preservation of the 
order of God's house, and looked with little indul- 
gence upon any thing which he thought involved a 
departure from the simplicity of the Gospel. Those 
who saw him in his daily walk, saw that he was 
living under the influence of the powers of the world 
to come ; but those only who knew him in the most 
familiar and sacred communings of Christian affec- 
tion, could form any adequate idea of the vigor of 



18 

his inner life. And if I may jntlge from my own 
intercourse with him, I may say that his spiritual 
growth became more strongly marked in his later 
years. It is only within a few months that he 
made me a hasty call in a brief interval of leisure 
during his professional engagements at Albany ; 
and I found that his principal errand was to rejoice 
with me over the hopeful conversion of one of our 
mutual friends. 

Far be it from me to say that my lamented 
friend was without imperfections ; his uniformly 
subdued and lowly spirit is the evidence that he 
would have been the first to rej^udiate such a sug- 
gestion ; but I will venture to leave it to those who 
have fewer imperfections than he, to show what 
they were. I know that he was prominent in some 
political conflicts, — a position which no man can 
occupy without having his motives arraigned, not to 
say his character assailed. It is not for me to pro- 
nounce upon either his general course or his partic- 
ular acts ; but that whatever he did, was done not 
from the wild dictates of caprice or passion, but 
from the honest dictates of conscience, I always felt 
a perfect assurance. When I have heard of him 
doing his part manfully in the battle and storm of 
political life, I may have been temj^ted to wish that 
he was breathing an atmosphere more congenial 
with his gentle and peaceful spirit; but I never 



19 

doubted tliat he was acting from the Ligli convic- 
tions of duty any more than when I have seen him 
dispensing his charities to the poor, or bowing at 
the altars of God. 

I look upon this dispensation as specially moni- 
tory in its j)nblic and national l^earings. I cast my 
eye over this assembly, I look abroad upon this 
great nation, and I see everywhere men in the 
exercise of civil authority, and thus, in a humbler 
or higher degree, giving direction to the destinies of 
our country. All these I would solemnly invoke, 
first by a regard to their own best interests, and 
next by their love for the land in which they dwell, 
to heed the lesson that is going forth from this 
coffin, in respect to the paramount importance of 
personal religion. I would admonish them that 
though they are wise men and counsellors, legisla- 
tors, and rulers, still they are immortal men, and 
will soon reach the point which our friend has 
already passed, where there will come a mighty ex- 
igency, which nothing but living Christianity can 
meet. I would remind them also that reliction is 
the very soul of i:)atriotism ; and that as they would 
render their country the highest service, they must 
come reverently and humljly to the Fountain of all 
Wisdom. And if I could, for a moment, command 
the natioii^s ear, I would bid her take heed how 
she enthrones infidelity and profligacy in her high 



20 

places. I would read to lier a terrible cliapter from 
tlie history of other nations, showing that impiety 
and tyranny are twin demons, and that madness is 
in the heart of those who would think to yield to 
the one and escape the other. And I would ven- 
ture to tell my country, that her interests will never 
be seriously imperilled even by the honest mistakes 
of her rulers, provided only that to the proper meas- 
ure of intelligence they add that spirit which dis- 
poses them always to keep a conscience void of 
offence. 

Oh, that the gracious Comforter might now fol- 
low in the track of death, to minister consolation to 
the multitude of stricken hearts ! Here is a Church 
mourning that one of its pillars has fallen ; here 
are Christian brethren calling up scenes of goodly 
fellowship, in which the voice now hushed in death 
bore a welcome part ; here are young disciples 
whom the same voice has counselled and encouraged, 
and who are sad because their friend and helper is 
laid low. Here are pastors who have successively 
broken to this Israelite indeed the bread of life, and 
have found their burdens lightened by his intelli- 
gent and zealous co-operation. Here are some of 
the friends of his early years, who have loved him 
from their youth, and whom he has loved in return, 
and who are now oppressed by the reflection that 
they shall see his face no more. Here are those 



21 

whose parents were also his parents ; who were 
nurtured Avith him under the same roof and trained 
under the same hallowed influences, and who have 
found their pulsations becoming quicker and moi'e 
tender as they have remembered that he was their 
brother. And finally, here are the children who 
have come thus far on life's journey under his pater- 
nal guidance ; who have been used to repose alike 
in his wisdom and his love ; who have never feared 
darkness as long as the sunshine of his presence was 
within their reach ; but upon whom the reflection 
now falls, as a cold shadow, that his countenance 
has beamed upon them its last loving smile. Verily, 
I am standing in the presence of a bereaved assem- 
blage ! Come, ever blessed Christianity, and dis- 
play thy gracious, healing triumphs here! May 
each mourner receive the baptism that brings light 
out of the cloud, and lifts the soul towards its eter- 
nal rest ! 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



011 838 198 




